


Why don't you love me?

by Fantasyeverything



Series: We Belong Together [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Charles protects Max, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Formula 1, Formula One, Hurt Max Verstappen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Max likes Daniel, Minor Violence, Oblivious, They are all just idiots, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:55:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25940191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantasyeverything/pseuds/Fantasyeverything
Summary: Max really loves Daniel, but thinks it's one-sided. Fortunately, he has his friends to help and protect him.
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell, Charles Leclerc & Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly/Charles Leclerc
Series: We Belong Together [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1882642
Kudos: 71





	Why don't you love me?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in English, I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> My tumblr is: fantasyeverything

Do you know that feeling when you look at the person you love, but you know they don't love you back. It's the worst feeling in the world. It feels like your heart is on the ground and people are stomping on it, slowly breaking it. Why did he have to love someone who could never be his?

Max felt terrible these past days and his eyes looked gloomy at the track. He was in the paddock, peeking at Daniel's big smile. Daniel Ricciardo, the F1 driver that Max Verstappen had a mega crush on. 

A heavy feeling ran in Max's veins. The feeling of heartbreak pounded in his heart. In recent years, Max's feelings had grown into a huge crush on his teammate, now ex-teammate. Of course Daniel didn't know about this, why on earth would Max tell him?! No, the only person who knew anything about his love for the Renault driver was Charles Leclerc. 

His Ferrari friend looked at him from a distance with a compassionate look. He had known for a while that Max had feelings for Daniel. 

"Hey Max, are you okay?" Charles asked, concerned. Max nodded and sighed slightly. 

"Is something wrong with me?" Max asked. His voice quivered a little. 

Charles immediately shook his head, "No, put that out of your mind." 

The Red Bull driver nodded sadly, but didn't really believe his friend. If there was really nothing wrong with him, why did he feel so bad? And why didn't Daniel have feelings for him?

Charles put a hand on Max's shoulder, "I know you don't believe me, but you really are a catch." Max rolled his eyes, but started to smile a little. His best friend could always cheer him up. 

Suddenly he heard an angelic voice to his right. "Hi guys, what are you doing?" Daniel's voice was cheerful, as always, of course. Max's throat felt swollen, so no sound came out. He looked at his Ferrari friend with a panicked look. Charles smiled at Max and squeezed his shoulder gently. "We're just talking a bit, but tonight we're going to the pub. Are you coming?" Charles's voice was hopeful and he winked at Max.

Daniel frowned, something you didn't see very often. His eyes looked a little dark and his cheerful voice had disappeared. "No, unfortunately I cannot come. I have another meeting with Cyril." Charles nodded understandingly, but Max did not respond. Of course Daniel didn't want to come, he never went when Max was there.  
Daniel looked back when someone called to him. A Renault mechanic gestured to the driver. Daniel shouted that he was right there. "I have to go," he said to the Redbull and Ferrari drivers. He smiled at Max, "Have fun tonight Maxie!" Then he jogged to the man who needed him.

Max looked after Daniel and sighed. Daniel would never go with him. Charles wasn't sure what to say. Daniel gave mixed signals, as if he himself did not know what to do. "Hey Max, we are going to have a nice evening. We are going to have a drink together and you are going to forget about this crush. I will take care of that personally." Max nodded at Charles's words. He was right, he had to forget about Daniel. He had to forget his beautiful smile and dreamy eyes. If only that were so easy….

That same evening, Max and Charles walked the streets of Monaco with Pierre, Alex, Lando and George. The race had gone well for Max with a nice third place. Charles was also satisfied with fourth place, but had hoped for more. The other boys had decided to go on a pub crawl and asked Max and Charles to come along. Max wasn't really looking forward to it at first, but he was persuaded by an enthusiastic Lando. 

"Are you having a good time Max?" the McLaren driver asked hopefully. He looked at Max with his puppy eyes. Max laughed, he was already quite tipsy and indeed had a good evening. "Yes, Lando, I'm glad you convinced me." Lando appreciated this answer and happily walked over to Alex and George. Charles walking next to Pierre pointed to the new pub they would be entering. "Here it is!"

They all went in and ordered some beers. They probably thought Max drank so much to celebrate third place, but the truth was different. No, Max didn't drink to remember this day, he drank to forget everything. He wanted to forget Daniel, these awful feelings. He had been walking around with these feelings for years. Every year he saw Daniel with a new girlfriend and Max had had enough. He needed someone to see him and not someone to date a new girl every week. Max drank a few more shots and started dancing with the others.

He knew Charles was watching him, but he didn't care anymore. He was tired of everything. Why couldn't anyone love him? It was so hard to see that Daniel wasn't his. Suddenly, he stopped, while standing in the middle of the dance floor. Charles was right with him and looked at him with concern. "What is going on?" Charles asked. Max remained silent and kept looking at the corner of the bar. There were a number of bar stools with a very familiar person on it.

When Charles looked in the same direction as Max, his gaze darkened. Charles walked to the corner of the bar and patted the person on the shoulder. On the bar stool was Daniel Ricciardo, the person who apparently lied about his meeting with Cyril. A very bad feeling crept up on Max. He felt the drink, heartbreak and sleepless nights all together. To his right he heard a screaming Charles. Daniel looked wide at Max, a startled look followed. He said something to Charles that Max couldn't understand, but this only made Charles more angry. George and Pierre ran to Charles when it looked like he was going to hit Daniel. Lando and Alex grabbed Max's hand and pulled him away from the dance floor. All he could hear was Charles's scolding and Daniel's expressions of regret. Once outside, Lando put his arms around Max. Alex was whispering something, which made Lando shake his head. "We have to get Max out of here," Lando said. "George and Pierre will be fine with Charles."

Max didn't believe this, because Charles seemed really furious. But he didn't respond to Lando's words, he was too tired. All this heartbreak was building up, but seeing Daniel at the bar with a girl today was too much. Daniel lied, he said he couldn't come because of a conversation with Cyril. But apparently he didn't want to come along because of Max. This was a complete disaster.

Minutes later, Pierre, George and Charles emerged from the bar. Charles had a bloody fist and George a sore spot on his leg. "What happened?" Alex asked, concerned. He walked wide-eyed to George and rubbed the dark spot. Pierre took care of Charles's bloody fist, it seemed as if he had hit someone. "Charles slapped Daniel," Pierre said. His French accent thickened with the underlying panic. 

Max was startled and immediately ran to his best friend. "Why?" he asked softly. Charles shrugged, "nobody hurts you." 

Max didn't know what to say and gave Charles a short hug as a thank you. "And what happened to you?" Alex asked George. George shrugged, "Someone had to stop Charles, so I pulled him away from Daniel. At the same time, I fell over from the force of Charles, which pushed my leg hard against the bar."

Charles looked at George with regret, "I'm sorry man."

Max didn't get it anymore, all these people who cared about each other and who cared about him. Maybe he didn't need Daniel at all, but those feelings didn't go away on their own. Tears escaped his eyes and he collapsed. He loved Daniel with all his heart, why did he lie? Lando was immediately with him and gave him a big hug. "Come on Max, we'll take you home."

A day later he woke up in his apartment all alone. He immediately turned on the news and, as he had expected, a video was made of Charles attacking Daniel. Max bit his lip nervously. He didn't want Charles to get in trouble for him. But the solution came quickly. Daniel tweeted that the fight was a complete misunderstanding and that it was his fault. Charles would probably get into trouble with Ferrari and the FIA, but this statement from Daniel helped Charles enormously. Max still felt very guilty and nauseous. He had had a lot of alcohol yesterday. Too much.

A few minutes later, Charles called to ask how he was doing. Max answered a little indifferently. He had so many dark thoughts floating around in his head. Charles assured him that he would see to it that Daniel would apologize. Max responded immediately that it was not necessary, but Charles insisted. Max could only hope that nothing bad would come out.

Max had really fucked up. All this happened because of his useless feelings. He had seen pictures of Daniel's black eye, it would certainly last for another week. 

A few hours later he heard a loud thump on his door, "Max?" It was Daniel's voice. An anxious feeling crept over Max. What should he do? Should he keep quiet and pretend he wasn't home? No, he had to face his feelings for Daniel. Maybe then he could forget everything. Maybe then he could forget about Daniel …

"One second, “ he replied. 

He walked to the door and opened it slowly. There was Daniel with teary eyes and a black eye. His hair was tangled and his smile was hard to find. It seemed like Daniel felt the same way as Max.

"Maxie," Daniel whispered.

Max was silent.

"Max," Daniel's voice trembled. "I'm such an idiot." Max raised his eyebrow, "why?"

"I love you, I love you with all my heart. Max I really am an idiot. Please let me in and let me explain." Daniel looked at Max with a pleading look. The butterflies in Max's body responded to the words coming from Daniel. Daniel loved him? How? And why?

He let Daniel in and they sat together on the red couch. They had watched movies together often enough on this couch. They had laughed and fought over the race together here. This is where all the feelings started. Would they end here too?

"Charles came by this morning to tell me to stop playing with your feelings. He was convinced I knew you had feelings for me, but Maxie I really didn't. You have to believe me.” Daniel's hands were shaking. Max took Daniel's hand and gave him a hopeful smile, "okay."

"I've had feelings for you for several months, but I've never talked about it. I didn't dare, because I thought you were in a relationship with Charles. You were so close together. I was convinced you were a couple. " 

Max started to frown, he and Charles? Indeed they were often together, but they were best friends. Just after Max talked about his feelings for Daniel, he and Charles got even closer. He needed Charles to counteract his heartbreak. Charles was like a brother to him. 

Max shook his head wildly and panicked a little. "Charles is my best friend. He is like a brother to me. We will always be there for each other, but I have no feelings for him and Charles not for me."

Daniel nodded, "Charles assured me that too."

Daniel smiled vaguely, "And because I thought you were taken, I decided to start dating others. But Max, nobody was good enough, nobody but you." A tear of joy ran down Max's cheek. He was good enough for Daniel and Dan had feelings for him too! 

Still, something was bothering Max, "Then why did you lie about having a conversation with Cyril yesterday? That hurt me a lot and Charles just wanted to protect me. I'm sorry he hit you."

Daniel closed his eyes in embarrassment. "You're right that I lied. Maybe you realized that I had been avoiding you for a while. That's because seeing you with Charles made me very jealous. I wanted to go out with you, but not with Charles. I lied and decided to have a drink with a friend of mine to forget about you."

Max started to laugh, "I was there to forget you!" They laughed together for a while until there was silence. Neither knew what to do. Daniel squeezed Max's hand gently. "Shall we watch a movie together, just like before?" Max nodded and he turned on a random movie on Netfix.

They both couldn't concentrate. Daniel put his arms around Max and Max crawled close to Daniel. A loving energy flowed around the room. Max blushed when Daniel lightly kissed Max's head. "You're a little red Maxie," Daniel teased. This made Max even redder. He gave Daniel a teasing tap on the arm, "stop."

Daniel shook his head and kept giving Max kisses all over his face. Max tried to escape, but Dan's grip was firmer. "I know what you can't stand," Dan whispered. Max's eyes widened, "no!" he laughed. After this crappy protest, Daniel started to tickle the Red Bull driver exuberantly. Max's laughter filled the entire room for the first time in months. A sense of happiness overwhelmed him. 

Suddenly the Renault driver stopped tickling. Max frowned, but before he could say anything he felt Daniel's soft lips on his. The feeling of joy only increased. He immediately started to kiss the man back. It wasn't a perfect kiss, but this was perfect for him. He grabbed Daniel's hair and tickled through it. A slight moan escaped Daniel. Now it was Daniel's turn to blush. 

After a few minutes, when they finished kissing on the red couch, they decided to watch the movie again another time. Nobody had seen any of it.

"I think we should thank Charles," said Dan. His voice was still somewhat panting.

Max nodded, "I think so too."

After this day the drivers started dating, but very soon Daniel asked if Max wanted a real relationship. This to Max's surprise, because he was convinced that they were already boyfriends. It was always the same with those two.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, comments and feedback always greatly appreciated❤️
> 
> My tumblr is: fantasyeverything


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